A mobile phone user, like other telephone users, generally must place a call to a voice mail system in order to receive audio messages. This has obvious disadvantages, chief among them being that the user must actively solicit the information that he or she has received a message by calling directly into the voice mail system. Frequently, the user will incur toll and/or air time charges to do so, only to discover that there are no messages waiting. The only other widely available method for receiving audio messages is through a physical connection to the messaging system. Such connections are costly in the use of resources, and clearly defeat the major advantage and intent of a mobile telephone or other remote receiving unit.
Short Message Service (SMS) is a standard feature on the Vodaphone and most other digital networks. SMS is currently utilized only to deliver messages to mobile stations as short text messages. Clearly, this method of messaging is not readily usable by the visually impaired.
In Short Message Service, as currently defined in various standards such as GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) [see, e.g., TIA/EIA/IS-637, Short Message Services for Wide Band Spread Spectrum Cellular Systems, 1995; TIA/EIA/TSB-79, Short Message Services for Wide Band Spread Spectrum Cellular Systems, 1997 (an update to IS-637); TS GSM 03.40, Digital cellular telecommunications system, Technical realization of the Short Message Service (SMS); Point-to-Point (PP)], short digital messages are captured on behalf of an end user, such as the user of a wireless telephone device. This capture can be time-consuming and frequently error-prone, generally requiring the message sender to have access to, and the ability to use, a text entry system such as a personal computer. The messages are then stored in a messaging center until the end user is ready for delivery, and then each message is delivered as a text message to the user at the end user remote station. Commonly, such delivery is done while the end user device is not otherwise in use by the user, but it can also be accomplished in parallel with, and independently of, some other ongoing activity at the end user device.
Although discrete messages sent by SMS are often limited to 160 characters, the length and number of complete messages that can be supported by an application are generally a function of the amount of memory built into the handset or other end user device, as well as of the practical limits imposed by the configuration of the network. The limits for both are rapidly increasing, for example, some handsets today purport to incorporate a Web browser.
Generally, the handset or other device indicates that a message has been received by emitting a short beep or by providing a visual indication on a display. Often, the user needs to press a button in order to read the message. If the handset memory is full, additional messages will be held by the network until sufficient messages have been deleted at the handset to allow room for new messages to be received.
Short Message Service capability is two-way, i.e. a digital mobile phone user can both receive and send short text messages utilizing this technology. To send a message, the mobile phone user generally needs to select among several menu options and then create the desired message using the handset's alphanumeric keypad or an associated personal computer. As with the creation of messages to be sent to the end user, this method is time-consuming and frequently error-prone.
What has been needed, therefore, is a way to conveniently send audio messages directly to and from the user of a remote receiving unit. Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a method for delivering and receiving audio messages to and from digital remote station users. In particular, an object of the present invention is to utilize Short Message Service or other existing text message-oriented services to deliver short audio messages.